under way. nbc has a news team inside that courtroom tweeting us the very latest. with a we are now learning coming up next. don't forget that umbrella today. we've got more showers returning to the bay area. heavy rainfall as of this evening. we're going to time it out, let you know what it means for your day coming up. we are talking about that major crash scott said in freemont. two closures for major connectors between 680 and 880. that update is coming up. a live look outside this morning at the bay bridge. it is monday, march 3rd. this is "today in the bay." good morning, everyone. thank you for joining us. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm peggy bunker in for laura this morning. the rain will arriving today in your neighborhood. >> good morning, everybody at home, welcome to monday. the good thing is you're going to get by with a nice, dry commute.

just about everywhere except for up in sonoma county. as we head throughout the day today, this moisture returns to the bay area and it is still bringing some pretty robust rainfall totals up to northern california. we desperately need this rainfall so it is a really good thing. this morning as you can see whatever we are getting, very light, very scattered. nothing organized just yet but that all changes as we head into the evening. let me give you a preview of what we expect. we stop the clock. by 2:00 p.m., some of the heavier moisture coming in as far to the south as palo alto. we'll continue to stretch this out through the evening. we'll talk about when the rain returns to the forecast. you'll want to keep the umbrella handy. but right now, back to you and the top stories of the day. we are following breaking news this morning in freemont, christina. head-on crash if freemont injures a woman, her 4-year-old daughter is fighting for her life. it happened on osgood road near the auto mall parkway. "today in the bay's" bob redell just spoke to police and he's

live with new information. >> reporter: good morning to you, scott. the mother, the woman police say caused this accident who they suspected being dui, driving umpbd t under the influence, has been upgraded. she's still in critical but no longer considered to have life threatening injuries. she is expected to survive. her 4-year-old daughter, however, is still in very bad shape according to police, still critical, still life threatening. you can see the remnants of the accident behind me here. we're on osgood a good half-mile north of the durham auto mall expressway. you can see where these two cars are mangled, torn apart. this happened just around 12:15 this morning. that mother and her 4-year-old daughter were heading down osgood when she strayed across the center line and collided head-on with a driver heading in the opposite direction. according to police, the daughter was in a car seat but it does not appear that that car seat was strapped to the car. one explanation why that daughter is in such critical

condition right now as i speak. again, police say that they believe that the mother was drinking. they are investigating her for driving under the influence. the driver in the other car, a 30-year-old man, was also admitted to police that he had been drinking. he was treated and released for his injuries to his leg and was also cited and released for misdemeanor dui. in other words, they did arrest him for this misdemeanor dui, driving under the influence, but they also released him. they did not book him into jail. again, he was treated and released for his injuries, injuries to his leg. again, he is okay as far as his injuries go. again, police have this mother again investigating her for driving under the influence causing this head-on crash that's left her daughter in horrible condition. reporting live here in freemont, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> that's awful, bob. thank you. the olympian accused of murder and pleaded not guilty in

a south africa courtroom this morning, oscar pistorius, the double amputee known as the blade runner is charged in the valentine's day shooting that killed his girlfriend last year. pistorius says he thought his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, was breaking into his home when he shot her through his bathroom door. prosecutors believe the shooting was intentional. now to a story still developing in ukraine. pro-russian troops have taken over a ferry terminal in the eastern most tip of crimea intensifying fears that back-up is on the way. meanwhile, leaders in washington are preparing a pretty tough response to what secretary john kerry calls a russian invasion. he plans to travel to ukraine tomorrow to meet with the country's new government. he says world leaders are prepared to isolate russia, in part by boycotting 48 me ining in sochi, also by freezing assets and visas. today russia's market dropped 10% and its currency fell to its lowest point ever against the dollar. some americans have already been evacuated from ukraine, including a bay area man who

returned last night. he was among hundreds of peace corps volunteers that was rushed home after the violence began. a cirque du soleil performer in san jose is watching what's happening in ukraine very closely. victor is a native of the count country. >> reporter: good morning. when victor leaves san francisco laurt today on his cross-country journey to support his homeland, ukraine, he's going to be awfully hard to miss. he's going to be driving a custom brightly colored porsche 911. he says when he came up with this idea to support his country, he actually had no idea how unpredictable and how unstable the situation would eventually get. he is a performer with cirque du soleil performing in places like san jose and new york but right now he is on a two-week break.

the car is wrapped in the colors and symbols of the ukraine. initially he says he wanted to make a supportive gesture because of the demonstrations going on, but then it escalated and turned violent with clashes between police and protesters. now he says the journey has turned into a fund-raiser for people who have lost family, but also it is to generate discussion. family and friends who still live there. >> i'm thankful for this freedom i'm living here for almost 20 years right now and i made my career here and i'd love my people to have the same opportunity and i just heartbroken to see what's going to happen. i can't even comprehend. >> reporter: he launched a website helpukraineproject is what it's called. you can find more information there. he will start from san francisco with stops all the way along the east coast. at each stop he and his videographer will meet with the media and try and spark conversation about what's going on and also try to raise money as i mentioned. the trip starts today at 12:30

right here at justin herman plaza. live in san francisco, christie smith, today in the bay. >> what a cool idea. for the latest on the situation in ukraine, both on air and online, go to nbcbayarea.com and search ukraine. you can also find important breaking news e-mail alerts. a san jose police officer convicted for writing fake traffic tickets is expected to be sentenced later today. the 51-year-old, george chavez, plieded no contest last month to four felony charges. prosecutors say chavez issued tickets against two men who were involved in a lawsuit against him. he signed the tickets using a fellow officer's name. he faces up to five years in state prison. foster city city council will consider possibly changes tonight to what council members calls a dangerous intersection. herb perez says the city should not wait for a tragedy before making a change to edgewater boulevard in point royal. a teenage girl was hurt earlier

this year crossing the street. no stop signs or flashing lights warning drivers about that cross walk. the city will consider cutting the speed limit or adding a traffic light. residents of the southern california neighborhood. azuza is cleaning up this morning after really heavy rains triggered mudslides over the weekend. this is what people found when they came home after being ordered to leave last week. one man returned to thick mud piled so high it was impossible to use his sliding glass door. evacuation orders were issued late last week because of the approaching storm. january's colby fire burned off the hillside vegetation there making the risk much mudslides even greater. in santa cruz, west cliff drive is back open this morning after a large sinkhole opened up along the side of the road right next to the ocean. public works officials say the street next to the hole is stable. the sinkhole is about the size of a car and we're told it is so deep it actually reaches the ocean below. people who live in the area say the sinkhole is not new. it first opened up about ten

years ago and was filled in. repair crews will be at the moby dick restaurant in santa barbara this morning trying to get the rear part back open after this. a wave crashed right through one of the one does on saturday. no one was hurt, just pretty scary there. the front of the restaurant was undamaged and does remain open. repair crews hope to have the work done by today. >> waiter, can we get some more water over here -- oh, no! good morning. we had a high-surf advisory in place for much of the weekend and for good reason. at this point that high-surf advisory has expired but we are still getting that chance for rainfall. that storm system just keeps on bringing more and more moisture in to the bay area. we're not out of the woods just yet. bring an umbrella with you as we head throughout the day today. temperatures are right now in the 50s. we'll end up in the 60s for today. mid 60s. 62 in san francisco. south bay today, you're going to

hit 65 degrees with those showers really intensifying for your evening drive home. keep that in mind. it could be rather rough later on this evening but we aren't expecting the kind of rainfall totals that we accumulated out of the last system. let's talk about what we are expecting. that's showers today, tomorrow, wednesday we have a little bit of a break for most of the day. then the showers return. late wednesday night into thursday. now let me show you what we are expecting as far as your totals go because they're pretty impressive and we need every single drop in the bucket that we can accumulate. between all three days, over an inch and a half of rainfall on the way to santa rosa. we'll pick up maybe three-quarters of an inch in san jose. just to our north, i want to show you how much more impressive the totals are in places like ukiah. this could easily spread to the south. we'll keep an eye on this very closely. we haven't had much of a drying out period. watching this and watching tahoe in my next report. here's mike. looking over here to our shot of the bay bridge from

emeryville. these red lights on the top of your screen to the left, those are heading westbound into san francisco. watching the flashing red and blue lights on approach to the city, slowly moved off to the left. there was a crash reported somewhere around freemont. that's probably what went on right there. it did clear from our view and from the bridge as far as i know but there may be flashing lights near the freemont off-ramp just for the time being. so far lighter volume around the bay. across the bay from the san mateo and dumbarton bridges very smooth. heading toward auto mall, use freemont boulevard are as your alternate. your 680 and 880 connectors are just fine. san jose just off 680 or 101. back to you. 5:11 right now. disney announcing it is pulling

association with the boy scouts.

an exclusive investigative unit report. the nbc bay area investigative team continues to expose assaults in the u.s. military guard. it there is a move in some states to force sexual assault investigations outside the military chain of command. laws have been proposed requiring independent investigations. tonight at 11:00, we share the story of several military veterans who threaten to end the code of violence and change the way sexual assaults are investigated. >> every single person that we

know that has reported sexual assault has been fired for being raped. tonight we investigate the problems with investigating sexual assaults in the military and a possible solution. the nbc bay area investigative unit with a closer look tonight at 11:00. the policy banning gay scout leaders is going to cost the boy scouts millions of dollars from disney. a bow scout spokesperson says that the organization is disappointed by the decision which will "affect its ability to serve kids." they say disney did not provide direct funding to the organization but instead donated money to local troops in exchange for volunteer hours that were completed by disney employees. last year the boy scouts lifted a ban on gay youth. the unrest in ukraine continues to have a huge impact all offense the world.

the rubleal has plunged against the dow. dax sharply lower just a few hours after opening. japan's nikkei index closed lower as well. markets here at home expected to react to what's happening as well. for detail, let's turn to courtney reagan live at cnbc world headquarters. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, scott. futures are lower here this morning as well. this is after we saw the renewed concerns over ukraine sparking a mixed close for the markets on friday. that spills over and continues today. stocks though were still up for the month of february. s&p 500 managed to set another record close. that's where we'll start today. both the dow and s&p. ended up about 4% for the month of february. the nasdaq rose 5%. thanks to the harsh winter weather, consumers may have to pay more for those slabs of beef and pork this spring. meat packers paying record prices after cattle futures rose to new highs jumping 10% so far this year. hog futures also at the most costly level in more than two

years. rising costs resulting from a long drought in ranching states that has led and will lead to tighter supplies. back to courtney, thank you ver much. the trouble with meat prices could actually get worse. another snowstorm has forced our nation's capital to should down this morning. federal government offices are closed. the house and senate have canceled votes that were scheduled for today. washington can see as much as ten inches of snow by the end of the day. it is the winter that just won't quit, christina. >> that's the storm system that came through here last wednesday. >> oh, really. >> yeah. took its sweet time. blew up over the rockies. so now, yeah, they're going to be dealing with it. what we are talking about is kind of a different scenario. we're tapping into a atmospheric river, that rich moisture that extends all the way from the hawaiian islands into the eastern pacific.

right now northern california seeing most of that moisture. you can see quite a bit still coming in north of santa rosa. throughout the day today all of that moisture is going to press to the south so make sure you bring that umbrella with you as we have another round of rainfall on the way as of lunch time. i'm going to show you to your doorstep in just a minute. 51 in mountain view. 50 san jose. 49 in concord right now. san francisco starting out the day in the 50s. this is part of the reason why we're easily going to climb into the 60s as of lunch time but that's also when we expect some of that rain-cooled air to move in. 57 degrees as of 4:00 p.m. you'll hit your high in your city today at about noon. otherwise, i'm forecasting mid 60s here in the south bay. it is not going to be too cold but definitely damp out there just about all day long with periods of rain moving in as we head throughout 11:00 a.m. throughout the day today, let this tell you the story. by 8:00 a.m., some of the moisture pushes into marin county. getting into 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 is when the widespread rainfall starts to move into the south bay.

we'll be spared for most of the day. areas south of highway 92. but if you work in san francisco or waking up with us north, make sure you are ready for the rainfall throughout the day today. as we head through tuesday, i'll talk about that coming up. let's check your drive. here's mike. we are in transition right now so it is not completely dried out out there and we won't get that for a little while. but over here toward the rest of the bay, because the roadways are dryer than they were last week at this time, looking at a smooth flow of traffic. peninsula not a problem. south bay, northbound routes starting to pick up a little volume. 87 and 280, showing yellow, that's just down to 60 miles per hour. over here in freemont we have a concern the closure from mission boulevard overnight because of the construction work between warm springs and 880 should be opening up in the eastbound direction in the next half-hour. over here is the closure at osgood road because of that major injury crash. bob redell updates us on that

situation. use freemont boulevard as your connecting down connecting you over to 680 or 880. the tri-valley, yellow eastbound, typical as folks hit dubl dublin. drier roads and no puddles right here. there is the north bay, a smooth drive southbound. glowing lights but no concern as far as visibility. back to you. a follow-up now. the flooding on highway 87 that tied up traffic during the friday morning commutes can at least be partly blamed on -- get this -- copper seeds. it happened on sound 87 near the taylor street exit. cal transays a water pump is there to keep water off the roadway but sometime during the night thieves stole the copper wiring needed to operate that pump. chp shut down the right-hand lanes for ten hours.

several cars got stuck in that lake. >> i remember i had to drive past that lake to get in. >> i remember standing in that lake. >> yes, you were! touche'! the rainy weather cleared up just in time for hollywood's biggest night, the 86th academy awards. >> it was quite a night. while the film did not win the night's big honor, it came out on top. >> "gravity." >> the space epics award included cinematography, best visual effects. it was also the historical drama "12 years a slave" that made oscar history winning the evening's top award, best motion picture. it is the first time a film from a black director has actually won the oscar. cate blanchett took home the oscar for best actress for her performance in "blue jasmine." and dallas buyer's club matthew mcconaughey paid tribute to his father. >> i know he's up there right now. he's got a poft gumbo. he's got a lemon merengue pie, a

cold can of miller lite and he's probably dancing right now. >> the cast and crew of "american hustle" walk away empty handed. not one. the film tied with "gravity" for most nominations, that would be ten, including best picture. there was actually a stanford student on stage for last night's academy awards. she is a senior at stanford, 1 of 6 college students chosen for team oscar. that's the men and women delivering the oscar statuette at this year's award show. amos posed with these photos on instagram, including one of the director's chair the being amy provided for her. >> very cool. 5:22 right now on your monday. south bay shorts stars really shine. >> the amazing shot that won it all for mountain view native paula creamer coming up next.

you got to see this. check out this ending to this weekend's lpga tournament in singapore. mountain view native paula creamer in a playoff to determine who will win the hsbc women's championship. all she had had to do was make this 75-foot putt for eagle. and, like that, that's how do you it. she actually kisses the ground. watch this. this is her first tour win since she won the 2010 u.s. women's open. i mean who ever thought she -- a 75-foot putt. >> maybe we should run that again in the news cast. to another south bay athlete. arizona state freshman sensation aaron gordon continues to impress. >> that's called a fat head. gordon had 19 points, 15 rebounds leading the wildcats to a big win over stanford last night. arizona is ranked third in the country. so is it a better day for

golf or basketball? let's check in with christina this morning. >> definitely basketball. nothing but net if you're playing with scott mcgrew. right now tracking a few showers out there. mike has some moves as well. he can spin that ball. i can tell you as we head throughout this afternoon the rain will move into the bay area. bring that umbrella with you and be prepared to use your windshield wiper pretty steadily for the evening dry. widespread on and off rainfall arrives by 11:00. we'll track that during our midday broadcast. then expect that steady rain for the evening commute. mike, you have the evenings off but what would you tell people to prepare for? how? >> watch out. whether that rain comes in we've had a lot of rain but that's taking quite a tax on the hillsides so we are watching for possibly slippage for mudslides and rods and rocks. we're tracking all of that.

im. looking toward palo alto, smooth drive from 101. not a problem northbound with those headlights. basically from palo alto all the way to san mateo, smooth drive. coming off of the bay bridge, flowing. 5:27. freemont intersection is shut down. the 4-year-old girl is in the hospital as a result. bob redell is at that scene. he'll have a live report next. tragic story. plus, a south bay college campus on alert after a string of armed robberies over the weekend. what campus police are now telling us. [ sports announcer ] here's another one, alyson dudek.

hales corners, wisconsin. nice pass by alyson dudek. can she hang on to that spot? and she does! [ male announcer ] with the u-verse wireless receiver, your tv goes where you take it, allowing inspiration to follow. ♪ [ dad ] looks pretty good, right? [ girl ] yeah. [ male announcer ] switch to u-verse and add a wireless receiver today. ♪

we continue to follow breaking news in freemont where a young girl is in critical condition after a head-on collision. bob redell has just talk to police about exactly what led up to this crash. that's also resulted in a closure in freemont. we also have a major roadway

connecting two freeways that's closed. that update is coming up. and that rain is not going away any time soon. we'll be dealing with it today, tomorrow, all the way to wednesday and thursday. i'll let you know how of we're anticipating we need it. it is on the way to the bay area. i've got your full forecast in moments. as tensions continue to rise in ukraine, americans in the region headed home. we'll hear from one bay area man who was in the middle of it when the violence erupted. taking a live look outside, straight-up 5:30 right now. it is monday, march 3rd, and this is today in the bay. good morning, everyone. thank you for joining us. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm peggy bunker. laura is off this morning. an intersection is shut down after a head-on collision involving a young girl and hr mother. the young girl fighting for her life this morning. bob redell in freelmont.

we'll check with him in less than a minute. lmeteorologist christina loren, this is good for our drought situation. >> it is, but it can make our daily routines a little difficult. that's what i'm here for. maybe you are someone who works outside? let's time it out for you. throughout this morning we saw showers at 8:00 a.m., still north of the golden gate bridge mostly impacting marin and sonoma county. stopping the clock at 1:00 p.m., our first rainfall here in the south bay, moisture continues to stream in as we head throughout it this evening. it could be kind of a rough commute home from work. overall we are looking pretty good, mostly dry right now. monday at 6:00 p.m., some of the bulk of the moisture comes through, will continue to come through overnight. even tomorrow morning we'll still be tracking showers on the radar. if you have outdoor activities you need to take care of, do it early today in san jose. before about 11:00 a.m. in san francisco. we'll keep you updated and tell you how much snowfall is on the

way to tahoe. back to you and the top stories of the day. breaking news this morning in freemont. a head-on crash has a 4-year-old girl fighting for her life this morning. happened on osgood road near the auto mall parkway. today in the bay's bob redell is live at scene. >> reporter: you see this section of osgood is shut down, probably for at least another hour and a half according to freemont police because of that scene right there behind me where you can see investigators are parsing through the debris and wreckage of two cars that collided head-on just a little bit after midnight. it was around 12:15 as you mentioned. the mother was the driver of one of the cars. her 4-year-old daughter was in the back seat. her 4-year-old daughter is the one who's in the shape. pd tells us she's critical, she's not stable and is fighting for her life. she does have life threatening injuries. her mother is also badly hurt but she's been upgraded to critical but stable. she is now out of the woods as

far as whether this is a life or death situation for her. she is expected to survive. again, as i mentioned, she is badly hurt and police are investigating whether or not she had been drinking. that is their suspicion that she was driving under the influence when this accident happened. she was coming down osgood. she crossed over the center line and collided head-on with a car heading in the opposition direction. the daughter was in a car seat but, unfortunately, according to police, that car seat was not attached to the car. it was loose in the back seat so she was strapped in to the car seat but the car seat was not attached to the car. probably explains one reason why she was so badly hurt in this accident. as for the driver of the other car, it was a man, he's about 30 years old. he was hurt but not badly. he was actually treated and released. according to police, he told them that he had also had a few drinks in his system so he was cited and released for misdemeanor dui, though again police believe it is the mother

and the other car who caused that accident. they say, by the way, she is 33 years old. all three people -- the mother, the other man and that daughter who is fighting for her life -- are all residents of freemont. again here osgood at just north of auto mall, durham, this section is shut down. they estimate hopefully reopened by around 7:00 this morning, which would be about an hour and a half from now. live in freemont, bob redell, "today in the bay." an update now to developing news. pro-russian volunteers have joined the ranks of russian troops who surrounded a ukrainian base in crimea. members of the group told reporters they are there to keep the peace in cities and checkpoints. so far this morning no shots have been fired. ukraine mobilized for war yesterday after russian president vladimir putin said that he did have the right to invade ukraine to protect russian citizens living there. here at home a unique effort gets under way today to help raise awareness of exactly what's happening thousands of miles away. a performer for cirque de soleil

who is driving his car across country will benefit thousands in ukraine. "today in the bay's" christie smith joins us now in san francisco which will be the starting point for this really epic road trip. >> reporter: good morning. when victor leaves san francisco later today on his cross-country journey to support his homeland, ukraine, he's going to be awfully hard to miss. he's going to be driving a custom brightly colored porsche 911. he says when he came up with this idea to support his country, he actually had no idea how unpredictable and how unstable the situation would eventually get. the 42-year-old is a performer with cirque de soleil performing in places like san jose and new york but right now he is on a two-week break. the car is wrapped in the colors and symbols of the ukraine. initially he says he wanted to make a supportive gesture because of the demonstrations going on, but then it escalated and turned violent with clashes between police and protesters. now he says the journey has turned into a fund-raiser for people who have lost family, but also it is to generate discussion. >> i'm thankful for this freedom i'm living here for almost 20

years right now and i made my career here and i'd love my people to have the same opportunity and i just heartbroken to see what's going to happen. i can't even comprehend. >> reporter: that journey does kick off a little later today here in san francisco with stops in southern california. then all across the country. wrapping up on the east coast on march 15th. he did launch a website called helpukraineproject where donations can be collected. along the way he'll meet with the media and ask americans to sign the national flag of ukraine. he hopes that that will be displayed eventually in the main square in ukraine. again, he's going to be leaving here from justin herman plaza this afternoon at 12:30. reporting live in san francisco, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> it will be hard to miss that car. i'm sure people will spot him out on the roads. secretary of state john kerry leaves for key yefb tomorrow while president obama is working the phones here

trying to help with a peaceful resolution. in seven minutes we'll go live to washington for what else the white house is planning on doing. this morning investigators in mart knees are trying to figure out how a girl who was hit and killed by a freight train was on the tracks in had the first place. the train struck and killed her as it was traveling through the city around 5:00 last night near old orchard and howe roads. one man who witnessed the crash says she might have been trying to grab her phone that had somehow fallen on to the tracks. the investigation is not affecting train schedules this morning. santa clara university is warning students to be aware of your surroundings. two students were robbed at gunpoint this weekend, one on campus, another near campus early on saturday. police say the suspect also tried to rob another person but that person saw the gun and managed to get away. this morning police say they have little information to go on. they do want to talk to anyone who may have seen or heard something. as for the campus alerts, police

are urging students to walk in pairs and if they see something suspicious to report it immediately. today the palo alto city council will meet to debate providing security to the 49ers' new home. santa clara would pay officers $55 an hour but the hours worked at santa clara stadium would not count towards hours worked in palo alto. santa clara has already reached out to several cities, including loss aa altos and mountain view asking for their help with security. we don't want anyone to get caught off-guard. we have rainfall on the way as of lunch time today. widespread across the bay area. grab the umbrella. make sure the little ones are prepared for the day as well. rain boots definitely necessary. we'll see a cloudy start. overall your commute will be

mostly dry. widespread on and off rain moves in by 11:00 a.m. we'll track those showers right here on nbc bay area. then we have the steady heavier rainfall on the way for the evening commute. we are talking about potentially accumulating a half-inch of rainfall overnight tonight. look at this. overnight in north star they accumulated two fresh inches of powder overall, upwards of 2 1/2 feet have come down in tahoe over the past seven days. we really need this snowfall. when we take you through the next 24 hours, by tomorrow morning we expect maybe an additional seven inches above 6,500 feet. you'll notice here our snow levels are going to be rather high. nonetheless we need every single snowflake and to add to that snowpack as long as we can. after all, we're just days away from kicking offspring at this point. by the way, daylight savings time, i'll tell you new sunrise and sunset on sunday. >> not the right direction, as far as i'm concerned.

a look toward mission boulevard, this is open now. the connecter has reopened. the connecter right here is what i've circled at the bottom of the screen. nearby we still have this closure due to a very serious crash. a 4-year-old girl has life threatening injuries resulting from the crash just north of auto mall parkway on osgood road. bob redell continues to follow the details of this situation. we expect it will be close to 7:00. here is a live look from the scene. they still have the car in the roadway. they're still investigating the situation that led to this crash and also we're following the status of the girl. her mother no longer has life threatening situation. she's still in the hospital there. we'll get back to the maps and talk about the area that we can avoid. use freemont boulevard as your alternate. 680 also running very smoothly in through that stretch. typical build for the tri-valley. no big surprises for the 580. live look shows you no problems, just a lot of headlights. but they are behaving.

well, it is 5:40. a former olympian is on trial for murder. day one of the oscar pistorius trial under way in a south african courtroom. here are live pictures. we are inside that courtroom. they say that there's already a witness on the stand. the latest from inside coming up next. plus, governor jerry brown takes a strong stance on recreational marijuana but it's not one that a majority of californians agree with. that's coming up.

a developing story in ukraine. it continues to escalate there into a full-blown war. news russian forces are spreading out down by the south area and taking hold of some parts of the country. secretary of state john kerry is headed to ukraine to meet with

the country's new government tomorrow. today in the bay's tracy pots is live on capitol hill this morning where leaders are preparing a very tough response. this is exactly what ukrainians have been fearing. >> reporter: well, it it is and the concern is russia getting involved into what level russia's getting involved. initially they said that their military was not involved but now we are seeing armed forces in the southern areas of ukraine taking over airports. as of this morning, a terminal as well, a ferry terminal, men who are speaking russian, wearing uniforms and driving vehicles with russian plates even though russia says it has not sent its military in to take over. now it's not just the southern region but the east as well. secretary kerry headed over there to support the growing democracy, the new government, there. but also to impose economic sanctions or the threat of economic sanctions if russia doesn't back off and they've got at least ten other countries, he says, willing to do that as

well. peggy? >> the russian currency is already dropping in response. thank you so of much. some americans have already been evac vated fruated from uk. he was a peace corps volunteer. he was in ukraine for almost two years working as an english teacher. he says he understands now why they needed to leave but it doesn't make it any easier. he says it has been one of the most exhausting weeks of his life. >> one of the most kind of maybe traumatic, being ripped away from the country and the people that you love the most. but this week has given me the chance to reflect on how resilient and how amazing the ukrainian people are and how we should never take for granted our freedom and what we have here. >> joseph says he does plan to return to ukraine as soon as it is safe. the first witness to testify had in the murder trial

surrounding olympian oscar pistorius says she heard blood curtling screams, then gunshots. she believes those screams on valentine's morning last year were from reeva steenkamp. this morning pistorius pleading not guilty to the shooting as his trial got under way in a south african courtroom. you are seeing live pictures here. he says he thought steenkamp was breaking into the home -- i think he thought someone was breaking into the home, probably not steenkamp, when he shot her through the bathroom door. prosecutors believe the shooting was intentional. if convicted, he faces a minimum of 25 years in prison. happening now, another winter storm hitting the east coast hard shutting down the federal government in washington as the house and senate cancelle votes scheduled for today. d.c. could see up to ten inches of snow. parts of the mid-atlantic could pick up a foot or more.

ice and wind causing power outages in the mississippi valley as well. in colorado, one person died in a 100-car pile-up on interstate 25. some people living in the nation's capital say spring cannot come soon enough. >> this has been unusual for d.c. obviously. and i love the snow but i have to admit even i am getting a little tired. >> i have shoveled all of this, every five feet of it. i'm tired. and it is in march. >> this latest sis it tell causing havoc from the rockies to the ozarks, all the way up into massachusetts as well. >> even people who are sort of snow experts just say enough already! >> we're 17 days away from spring at this point and they just keep getting hammered with storm system after storm system. they usually come through here first, then end up on the east coast. now for today, we're going to keep some light rainfall in our forecast. and we really need it. you can see san jose showers are wrapping up just a touch. only up in sonoma county but

bring your umbrella with you no matter where you are waking up with us from across the bay area this morning because we do have that rich moisture on the way later on today. now, there's a couple good things to point out. we'll see nice warm temperatures today. you probably haven't been running your heater steadily. this is also good for our air quality as we get that atmospheric cleansing any time rain rolls through the bay area. but today, it is not too bad. 52 degrees. san jose at 50. in the south bay by lunch time san jose showers arriving, 60 degrees. we'll wrap up your temperatures to 64 degrees. but as you start that trip home that's when we expect the showers to be even heavier so keep that in mind. overall though, 60s all across the bay area for today. heading throughout the day, on and off showers top by 11:00 a.m. north to south, heaviest showers along the peninsula and up into the north bay. taking you into the afternoon, the rain starts to pick up. if you work outside, make sure

you have the rain gear with you throughout the day today, even right here in the south bay. we won't see the most moisture down here but we will see maybe a half of an inch of rainfall which is a pretty decent total area to the south of 92. heavier rainfall this evening. roadways will be slick. keep that in mind if you are going to be waking up and taking your bike to work, might be a good idea to plan on. putting that bike on a train later on tonight because we do have that rain coming in and it can be kind of rough if you are out there biking to work. but we do appreciate that, stay in green. your on the bottom of your screen. microclimate differences coming your way -- 70 degrees, warmest day of the week on wednesday. by thursday, 67 degrees, another round of rainfall. we start a pretty big-time warm-up friday into the weekend. little something for everybody. mike? over to you. >> weekend and my ears perked up. but it's monday! over here, north 101. this is the first we see typical, calming down right here. 101 just north of 680 is where

we see the first kick in just a couple of minutes ago. another one in about a half-an-hour. that will stick for the morning commute. not a problem for 87 or 280. volume still holding steady through that portion of your bay. over here we still have the closure in freemont. 680 moves smoothly. osgood road, folks know that iconic corner with frye's electronics. north of there is where bob redell is following this crash. major injuries, a 4-year-old girl was injured in this crash and she's fighting for her life right now. we're following the crash and investigation. your alternate is fremont boulevard. all around the bare, pret itty much as you expect for monday. your typical build out the altamont pass. no problems here, just the build off the berkeley curve.

southbound 101 this is going pretty much according to schedule for your typical monday. 5:50. despite growing support for the legalization of recreational marijuana in california, governor jerry brown says it is not a good idea. the governor made the comments on "meet the press" yesterday. california was the first of the u.s. states to legalize pot for medical use. but when host david gregory asked the governor whether california should follow in the footsteps of colorado and washington which have both legalized recreational pot. >> world's very dangerous, very competitive. i think we need to stay alert. if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able to put together. >> a recent poll found 58% of americans support legalizing pot for recreational use by adults. those who support it say they're confident it will be eventually legal in california, regardless of what the governor says. well, tonight show host

jimmy fallon taking the polar plunge for a good cause. >> he wore something slightly unusual. how about. full suit and tie. if you're going to do the polar plunge, you might as well look good doing it. a record 3,000 people, including fallon and chicago mayor rahm emanuel among them, jumped into lake michigan to raise money for the special olympics. fallon agreed to jump in if emanuel appeared on the "tonight show." the polar plunge raised more than $1 million for the special olympics. >> holy cow. 5:52. coming up we'll show you what you missed during the oscars last night, including a tweet that managed to take on twitter.

it's a wondrous sensation of clarity and alertness... it's owning your opponent... it's knowing beyond a doubt "you got this"... it's keeping your head down, your eye on the ball, and knocking it out of the park... it's getting in the zone... it's keeping on your toes... on target... on top... focus is staring the world in the face and saying "bring it"... focus is power... focus is life... and 5-hour energy is focus.

welcome back. the rainy weather cleared up just in time for hollywood's biggest night. >> the rainy weather cleared up just in time for the starts to shine on the red carpet. the biggest honor -- best motion picture. >> "12 years a slave." >> the historical drama took home the night's top prize, best motion picture. best supporting actress. matthew mcconaughey won for best actor in "dallas buyers club." while cate blanchett took home that statue for her performance in "blue jasmine." gave a great speech. also check this out. this is the real deal. pizza delivery guys heading in to the oscars helping out host ellen degeneres hand out slices to the hungry crowd. soon the host went backstage to

meet the delivery guy, led him right out there to the audience. brad pitt there having a slice. then she passed around a hat saying, come on, somebody's got to pay for this pizza. this was a selfie that was recorded for the record books. what a picture. degeneres tweeted out this photo of herself alongside hollywood royalty including jennifer lawrence, meryl streep, kevin spacey and bradley cooper. she added if only brad's arms were longer. most of the stars recognizable. a lot of people wonder hog that dpi on the rice with the glasses is. he's actually the brother of best supporting actress lupita nyong'o. the selfie earned more than a million retweets in less than an hour. twitter says this is the most retweeted message ever. so much so it actually took twitter down for about 20 minutes around 7:00. >> i noticed it is up to 2 1/2 million tweets so far. it is amazing a selfie like that turned out so well. 5:56 on your monday. what facebook is now asking menlo park for and the tech company says it is willing to pay it to get it done. plus, why disney says it is

stopping support of the boy scouts of america. we continue to follow breaking news this morning. a tragic story. a freemont intersection is now closed, a young girl fighting for her life after an early morning car crash. we'll get a live update next. as you are looking at a live picture of washington, another snowstorm comes through. u.s. house and senate, closed for snow. it is a snow day, senators. we'll be back in a minute.

right now at 6:00 -- a freemont road shut down as a 4-year-old girl fights for her life. what investigators say led to the head-on crash. plus, the crisis in ukraine intensifies overnight. latest on russia's movement into the country. capitol hill shut down due to yet another snowstorm. gets ready there to bury the east coast. meanwhile, we've got more rain in the forecast as of today and some decent totals offense the course of the week. we'll time out two systems to

your doorstep coming up in your full forecast. meanwhile, the bay bridge toll plaza, no puddles there. i checked before the cars filled it in. metering lights are on and we have more closures going on to talk about in freemont coming up. a live look outside. today is monday, march 3rd. and this is "today in the bay." good monday morning to you. >> we continue to follow breaking news in freemont and it is heart billion breaking news. a head-on crash early this morning left a 4-year-old girl fighting for her life. the little girl's mother was the one driving the car. police say she caused the crash. right now freemont police have osgood road blocked off between auto mall parkway and blacow road. bob redellt